The 12 Gods of the Masculine (Mars)

by Daniel Giamario

Within the Shamanic Astrology paradigm, Mars symbolizes the Masculine principle in both men and women, and Venus symbolizes the Feminine. We can all pretty much agree that the gender roles that we grew up with in our culture, are useless especially at this Turning of the Ages. There is currently a lot of confusion about what exactly is “masculine” and “feminine.”

Global humanity is in such a state of disillusion, it feels timely to eliminate the old obsolete culturally biased ideas before we can get a glimpse of an emergent reality. Without this, how can we even begin to conceive of a post-gender world of gylanic* collaborative equality between women and men?

*Gylanic refers to a partnership social system based on equality of men and women, where inherent individuals and systems progress toward higher, more evolved and more complex levels of function, as opposed to hierarchical systems of human ranking where one gender dominates the other via force or threat of force, inhibiting higher function of the overall social system and individuals within.

Join anytime the Mars Teleclass Series – next class is August 24th!

At this point in our inquiry, The Shamanic Astrology Mystery School (SAMS) begins with several assumptions:

1) When discussing Masculinity and Femininity, never are we talking about men and women, but rather archetypal Masculinity and Femininity that can exist in both men and women.

2) When attempting to understand what the differences between the two are, eliminate anything that has any culturally relative gender assumptions. This is also applied to men and women.

3) It may be necessary to start at square one: men are XY Chromosome humans, and women are XX Chromosome humans. From that follows genital differences. Beyond that it’s all up in the air.

4) FOR SURE, all men are not the same, and all women are not the same. Be suspicious of any pop psychology that tries to tell you differently. Such views are worse than saying all Aries Sun Sign people (or any other Sun Sign people) are the same.

5) Shamanic Astrology invokes and celebrates that authentic diversity of the full spectrum of the archetypal expressions of men and women. The sacred geometry of Shamanic Astrology describes the full spectrum by way of 12 male archetypes (Gods) and 12 female archetypes (Goddesses). Although these 24 are seen and described as men (gods), and women (goddesses), at this time of great dissolution and change, the archetypal images actually carry more power than our attachment to our ideas about Masculinity or Femininity or about men or women.

6) The most useful and powerful symbol on the chart announcing the life’s intention for authentic Masculinity or Femininity, is a man’s Mars and a woman’s Venus. Please note we are never talking about Sun signs. To be clear, the signs of Mars for men, and Venus for women, do not describe how a person is initially, but rather what is intended for a person to discover and explore, so in that sense is what they are becoming. Or said another way, it is a set of instructions from Great Mystery.

Because SAMS had been focusing on the Full Spectrum Feminine, with last year’s strong emphasis on the Sacred Feminine, it is time we now turn our attention towards the Full Spectrum Masculine archetypes and men. That is why the Second Annual SAMS Conference is focused on this theme.

So what is the full spectrum?
There are, of course, some sophisticated and well-articulated attempts to expand the awareness of the Masculine beyond “men are from Mars, women are from Venus.” Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, have proposed a four-fold vision of the Masculine as: the King, the Warrior, the Lover, and the Magician. David Deida uses the framework of three stages of development where stage one is traditional masculinity, stage two is where the masculine learns about the feminine from the feminine perspective (the more new age man scenario), and then stage three is ? well, no one really knows, except that it’s new and authentic.

This model is limited since men are more than just one type. As we shall see, Shamanic Astrology has an answer that covers 12 basic types with many variations on each of them. It is interesting to note that the integral approach of Ken Wilber uses a developmental model for the Masculine, but due to the outright rejection of archetypes this model limits its usefulness.

The previously mentioned schemata created by Moore and Gillette do describe authentic and different versions of masculinity, but also leave out quite a lot. Where is Father? Partner? Shaman? And the approach of David Deida has two difficulties. First he is writing for men who are primarily actional types with at least 80% pure Yang masculine, and he is clear that this is his intention. Additionally, there is no clear sense as to what a stage three male would be like, since it’s in “development.”

It is true the emerging masculine is finding new ways of expressing and SAMS offers 12 possible expressions that describes the evolving Masculine at this time. So, inspired by John Gray’s “Men are From Mars”, we now present the “12 Men from Mars”.

The God ARIES Warrior/Protector
The God Aries is a man of action dedicated to a noble cause or purpose with the capacity for total commitment including soldiers, warriors, protectors of the established structures of society including family, community, clan and state.

Valued For: Nobility, commitment, speed, strength
Gods and Stories: Aries (Mars), the Kshatriya cast of warriors in India, the Samurai, football quarterbacks, bouncers, soldiers.

The God TAURUS The Lover/Epicure
The Taurus God explores beauty and aesthetics, personal intimacy as art, and more than any other God, the capacity to receive. As an epicurean, he maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain via pleasure for as long as possible, as deep as possible, without pain or in blissful moderation. He is deeply relational but not a culture bearer or pair-bonder. Being an Earth God, he has little interest in patriarchal conceptions of masculinity.

Valued For: Aesthetics, personal loyalty, capacity for pleasure
Gods and Stories: The Dagda-Irish Bull God, male courtesan, metro-sexual, epicures of food and fashion

The God GEMINI Eternal Youth/Shape-Shifter
The Gemini God is a puer aeternus (eternal youth), like Peter Pan. Like the itinerant troubadour minstrel, he is a bringer of magic to all. He is multifaceted in creativity and is dedicated to his freedom and remaining a free electron. A lover of women, he can easily shape-shift to what a woman desires him to be. Above all, he is committed to being beyond the rules of duality and polarity.

Valued For: Curiosity, humor, adaptability, quick mind
Gods and Stories: Hermes, Thoth, Kokopelli, Don Juan, court jester.

The God CANCER Father, Provider of Nourishment
Cancer is a provider of nourishment. He is dedicated to providing personal, hierarchical, and responsible nourishment to a seed (child, client, student, house, business) to its maturity. Cancer is exclusively a giver, and knows himself through a specific function. He is motivated through the love and compassion of the feeling function (water). His identity is generally based on his family and community. In patriarchal family structure, he is the father/provider.

Valued For: Responsibility, committed and caring nourishment, providing emotional support.
Gods and Stories: Nurturing fathers and providers, counselors and helpers

The God LEO King, Leading Man
Leo is a man of power and authority whose intuitive connection to divinity allows him to create as an end in itself. That willful confidence opens a space of confidence and trust in others. Often his creatorship is expressed as joyful play, through which he demonstrates radiant self-love in action. At his best, he models the best qualities of a human being to others, and will ultimately serve the people.

Valued For: courage, inspiration, joy, radiant radical self-love
Gods and Stories: Good kings, the leading man, the star, a healthy two year old.

The God VIRGO Priest
The Virgo God is completely dedicated to a sacred work in service to spirit. Historically a renunciate, his attention is not on worldly, secular, or personal affairs. All he does is in service to the integrity and authenticity of his craft and skill. He is impersonal and primarily a giver, with an abnegation of his own personal needs. At his best, he is ultimately in service to Earth Mother.

Valued For: Sense of the sacred, dedication, discriminating precision
Gods and Stories: Hephaestus (Vulcan), Priest, Ceremonialist.

The God LIBRA Partner, Husband
The Libra God desires to know himself through a significant other or others. Along with Taurus, he is the most personal of all gods. Historically, his greatest interest is in sustainable, long-term, agreement-based relationships operating within a cultural framework. His intention is “we” not ”I.” His greatest strength and commitment as a man is to work on a relationship that can result in a non-hierarchical conscious equal partnership and true collaboration. For Libra, relationship itself is a path to God.

Valued For: Being a good partner and how well he is doing in his relationship.
Gods and Stories: Husband/partner, boyfriend, diplomat.

The God SCORPIO Shaman, Sorcerer
The Scorpio God explores the greatest depth and power of life force and aliveness, and aspires for its mastery. The experience of life force is for its own sake and it is his responsibility to respond to this desire. For him, desire is the engine of creation. His authentic response to where the greatest aliveness is, will always supersede mental constraints or social conventions.

Valued For: Depth, passion, eros, power, intensity.
Gods and Stories: Shiva, wild man in the woods, green man, Pan, shaman, sorcerer, wizard, “the bad boys”

The God SAGITTARIUS Explorer, Adventurer, Philosopher
The Sagittarius God is dedicated to the quest for meaning and purpose. His greatest joy is the love of truth. His lifestyles are adventure, exploration and philosophy. Traditionally a renunciate, the secular world and personal affairs are a low priority. He loves freedom and has the capacity to change his objectives frequently. The zeal in pursuing this freedom is his way of being in service to spirit.

Valued For: Freedom, adventure, spirituality, truth.
Gods and Stories: Labors of Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts, the voyages of Odysseus, “the journey to the East,” the Polynesian way finders.

The God CAPRICORN Elder, Responsible Father, Expert
The Capricorn God is the elder and expert, the responsible one who can hold it together for everyone else. He functions from a hierarchical position and makes the practical decisions for the benefit of the generations to follow, while also honoring the previous traditions. As a culture bearer he has both the power and respect to carry out the actions for maintaining and then building a new world. Capricorn is primarily a giver with little regard for his own needs as long as he is respected and has a necessary function. He is the least personal of all the gods.

Valued For: His capacities, being responsible, elder knowledge, authority
Gods and Stories: Father, Prime Minister, Captain of the ship, Jean Luc Picard (“Star Trek”).

The God AQUARIUS Innovator, Visionary, Scientist
The Aquarius God is a revolutionary of consciousness. He is committed to universal ideals including egalitarianism, liberty, higher love and progressive idealism. He is a free electron, valuing his radical freedom and personal uniqueness. He stands aloof from mainstream conventions and is committed to his own uniqueness while also being a champion for everyone else. He is suspicious of superstition, as well as any behaviors or beliefs that are too emotional or riddled with subjectivity.

Valued For: Brilliance, freedom, uniqueness, objectivity, being avant-garde.
God and Stories: Avant-garde thinkers, scientist, explorer of consciousness

The God PISCES Bringer of Ecstasy, Dionysus
The Pisces God is a bringer of ecstatic experience leading to mystical rapture and union. This is the god closest to the archetypal feminine. As a transpersonal giver he loves assisting women (and the feminine in men) in having their wildest, most expansive, most uninhibited experience. Generally a renunciate, he is little interested in worldly or personal life. Mostly committed to the mystical and celestial realities, he emphasizes the experiences that lead to ecstatic experiences for himself as well as being a healer to others.

Valued For: Deep feeling, empathy, compassion, surrender.
Gods and Stories: Dionysus and the Maenads, servant of the goddess, the “Year King,” the Ayuhuascaro, Jesus (early version)

Note: All descriptions for the Mars Gods can be found within the Shamanic Astrology Card Deck and The Shamanic Astrology Handbook HERE 

We invite you to join us at the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School’s Second Annual Conference to learn more about the Full Spectrum Masculine and the Inner Sacred Marriage.